Hollands new contract a no brainer?

as I am as sad about the disastrous free agent period, I wanted to ask what you think about the upcoming contract talks for Holland. As I read a few weeks ago in an article about Babcocks contract talks, he answered that first Holland must re-sign. So, could this failure at this free agent period influence this? With whom does he negotiate, the Illitches?

And, further hopeful thinking, what are the chances bringing Yzerman back? Such thing must probably be planned in advance, or has there been a case when a GM violated his contract?

(Sorry for the punctuation lapse, although Holland resigning would be favorable)

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We blew it with Yzerman, turns out he's becoming a pretty good GM. Look at the wheeling and dealing he's done this past week, very impressive. Although I think the St Louis fiasco could have been avoided, he managed to get a good deal out of it. I doubt he will come back to Detroit with the 4 year contract he has with Tampa.

Jim Nill in 2 seasons has turned Dallas around.

Meanwhile, Babs and Kenny are still looking for that mythical free agent tree, unable to make a trade while droning on about how these are different times as every serious cup contender made some kind of move to better their team. Any wonder no one wants to come to Detroit?

I think that is the way to go. Its time to stop looking to the past to justify the present. Our past success doesn't mean as much the further and further we get from it. We are 6 years removed from our last cup and only moving away from the finals every year. I don't want to be the guy who is still bragging to his friends years from now that "we haven't won the cup in 15 years but you have to admit our playoff streak is prettyf****** amazing."

Is there a kickstarter campaign for Jakub Kindl to never play another NHL game?

We blew it with Yzerman, turns out he's becoming a pretty good GM. Look at the wheeling and dealing he's done this past week, very impressive. Although I think the St Louis fiasco could have been avoided, he managed to get a good deal out of it. I doubt he will come back to Detroit with the 4 year contract he has with Tampa.

Jim Nill in 2 seasons has turned Dallas around.

Meanwhile, Babs and Kenny are still looking for that mythical free agent tree, unable to make a trade while droning on about how these are different times as every serious cup contender made some kind of move to better their team. Any wonder no one wants to come to Detroit?

And both teams saw first round exits last year, same as us.

In fact, Tampa Bay made the playoffs in Yzerman's first season as GM, and then missed the playoffs the next two seasons. Yea, we really "blew it with Yzerman". If anything Yzerman is a good GM, but I wouldn't say he was a guy we missed on. Holland and Yzerman are probably close to being the same than we think.

The point is that neither of these teams with the moves they made have resulted in success beyond making the playoffs like us.

I still want to see what Babcock can do when given a team not made up of misfit toys...or factory reject dildos.

I do think there's something to be said for coaches losing effectiveness over time, but I think Babcock's done a good job of overachieving given the lousy, unbalanced teams he's been given and the injuries piling up on top of that. I don't think it's time to give up on him.

Holland should be "promoted" out of the GM spot. Keep him in the organization if you can because a) he's done well with drafting and b) I think he could still be very effective on another team, and it'd be great to avoid having to compete against. I don't doubt the guy's competency as a GM so much as I doubt his ability to be emotionally distant enough here to do the job well.

Original 6 franchise, formerly known as the destination for UFAs and now the reality...so yeah this is really a no brainer. He has an eye for talent so let him move up become the VP and guide the new GM. We really blew it with Stevie and Jim.

As for Babcock easiest decision ever, the guy will have half the league looking for him and he has the chance to coach Crosby and Malkin during their prime years, sadly for us this is also a no-brainer. Guy will be gone as soon as his contract is up and I don't blame him one bit, Holland hasn't given him the tools to succeed.

It's easy to like (or hate) the moves a GM makes in July. I will reserve judgment on whether Yzerman or Nill is better than Holland until we see how their teams do in the coming season(s). At this point neither looks to be close to a Stanley Cup. Neither do we, but at least under Holland we have won Cups, and I don't think even the Holland haters would argue that we have failed to draft and develop good prospects in the past five years.

I am not convinced that Spezza and Hemsky are going to magically become playoff points producers for Dallas. Yzerman's moves this week look OK on paper but again, until he achieves some tangible results better than a first-round loss and a few more regular-season points than Detroit, I think it's early to be saying he would be a better GM than the one we have.

I would have to agree that perhaps it would be time to 'promote' holland out of the position at this point... had we not lost Nill and Yzerman. But isn't Develanno still president, old as hell? And doesn't Ken Holland prefer to be a GM? Let's be real, Holland does some dumb stuff, like that roster logjam to start last season... except we didn't lose anyone on waivers and wound up with impressive forward depth throughout the season, so I think he's doing pretty well. I wish he'd make a trade though every once Iin awhile.I think the main reason we can't get defenseman anymore is because Lidstrom is gone and 'top pairing' defenseman can't just come here, relax, and pad their stats like they used to.

I would have to agree that perhaps it would be time to 'promote' holland out of the position at this point... had we not lost Nill and Yzerman. But isn't Develanno still president, old as hell? And doesn't Ken Holland prefer to be a GM? Let's be real, Holland does some dumb stuff, like that roster logjam to start last season... except we didn't lose anyone on waivers and wound up with impressive forward depth throughout the season, so I think he's doing pretty well. I wish he'd make a trade though every once Iin awhile.I think the main reason we can't get defenseman anymore is because Lidstrom is gone and 'top pairing' defenseman can't just come here, relax, and pad their stats like they used to.

So Holland constructing a team out of old injury prone forwards and replacing them when injured with youth was good GMing? He fixed his own mistake with players that initially would have been the solution. Lets be real - Holland fixed a problem that he made himself.

Is there a kickstarter campaign for Jakub Kindl to never play another NHL game?

I bet Holland will get a three year extension. So will Babcock. If we start being horrible (i.e. not making playoffs for consecutive years, only winning 30 games, etc.) then a change may come. I could be wrong. Oh well. Sorry.